DATA 5013 Module 3 Survey Questionnaire Development Example

Twenty-Two Questions About a $45 Membership: Developing and Pretesting a Bookstore Customer Survey

Student Name

American College of Education

DATA5013: Market Research

Module 3 Assignment

Instructor Name

May 15, 2028

Introduction

The research design in Module 2 calls for an online survey of 3,000 loyalty card members of Northstar Books, the composite Twin Cities bookstore chain where I manage marketing, and a shorter in-store version for customers without a card. This paper develops the questionnaire. It explains the principles guiding the wording, presents the questions in order with the objective each serves, describes the price questions in detail, covers the shorter intercept version and plans pretesting. The target length is about eight minutes, since longer surveys lose respondents and attention.

How People Answer Surveys

Krosnick (1999), reviewing survey research, explained that respondents often satisfice, giving answers that seem acceptable rather than carefully considered, particularly when questions are difficult, long or repetitive. The same review noted that agree and disagree formats invite acquiescence, a tendency to agree regardless of content, and that response options tailored to the question tend to perform better. Those findings guide this questionnaire. Questions use plain wording and one idea each, response scales are labeled at every point, agree and disagree items are avoided in favor of direct questions, and the most important questions appear early, before fatigue sets in.

Opening and Concept

The survey opens with two screening questions: which store the respondent visits most often, and how many times they have bought from Northstar in the past year, with answer ranges. Purchase details come from the loyalty data, so the survey does not ask respondents to recall spending. Next comes a short concept description, the same for every respondent: a Northstar membership would cost a set amount per year and include a discount of one tenth on everything bought, special orders shipped at no charge, first access to author event tickets, two members-only author nights a year and a $10 book credit in the respondent's birthday month. The free loyalty card would continue for everyone. The order follows the funnel approach common in marketing research, moving from easy, general questions to more specific and demanding ones (Malhotra, 2019).

The Likelihood Question

Each respondent is randomly shown one price, $35, $45 or $55, in the concept and then asked: "If this membership were available at $45 a year, how likely would you be to join?" with five labeled options: not at all likely, slightly likely, moderately likely, very likely and extremely likely. Showing one price per respondent avoids the anchoring that occurs when people compare several prices side by side. A follow-up asks those who chose very or extremely likely when they would expect to join, as a check on how firm the intention is, and asks those who chose not at all or slightly likely for the main reason, from a short list with an other option.

Price Sensitivity Questions

Four further questions, based on the price sensitivity meter developed by Van Westendorp and described by Lipovetsky et al. (2011), ask each respondent to state, for a membership with these benefits, at what yearly price it would seem so cheap that they would doubt its value, at what price it would seem a bargain, at what price it would begin to seem expensive and at what price it would be too expensive to consider. Plotting the cumulative answers produces a range of acceptable prices and points where the curves cross. Because these open-ended price questions are more demanding, they come after the main likelihood question, so they cannot influence it.

Benefits, Spending and the Free Card

A ranking question asks respondents to order the five benefits from most to least valuable to them, which forces tradeoffs that rating every benefit separately would not. Two spending questions follow: about how many more books, if any, the respondent would expect to buy from Northstar in a year as a member, and how many of their book purchases currently go to other sellers. Two questions address the free card: how much the respondent values it, on a five-point labeled scale, and whether a paid program would change how they feel about the chain, with options from much more positive to much more negative. An open question invites any other comments.

Wording Problems Avoided

Several drafts of the questions were revised to remove common problems. An early version asked how valuable the discount and free shipping would be, a double-barreled question that combines two benefits, so the ranking now lists each separately. Another draft began with the phrase many of our best customers have asked for a membership, which would lead respondents toward a positive answer, and was removed. A question about how often respondents buy books online used the vague word often, so it now offers specific ranges. And the phrase author events was defined in the concept, since pilot readers in a similar earlier survey interpreted it differently, some thinking of children's story times and others of evening readings.

Demographics and Length

Demographics are kept to what the analysis needs: age group, whether children under 18 live in the household and zip code, which allows distance to the nearest store to be estimated. Income is not asked; it adds burden and sensitivity without serving any objective. In total, the survey has 22 questions, including follow-ups that only some respondents see, and the pilot will check that it takes about eight minutes. A progress bar and a statement of the time required appear at the start, along with the $5 store credit offer and a privacy statement describing how answers will be used.

The Intercept Version

The in-store version for customers without a card is shortened to nine questions that take about three minutes on a tablet: frequency of visits, the concept description, the randomized likelihood question and its follow-up, the benefit ranking, two of the four price questions, age group and zip code. As Module 2 explained, the key wording is identical across modes so answers can be compared. Interviewers will read the concept aloud while the respondent views it on screen, and they will be trained to avoid commenting on the membership or reacting to answers.

Pretesting

The questionnaire will be tested twice before launch. First, eight customers recruited from the stores will complete cognitive interviews, thinking aloud as they answer, so that confusing wording, such as what special orders means, can be found and fixed. Second, a pilot invitation will go to 150 randomly chosen members; their responses will show completion time, where people drop out, whether the price questions produce sensible answers and whether any question yields mostly the same response. Changes will be documented, and pilot responses will not be combined with the main sample if wording changes. Store staff will also take the intercept version themselves before fieldwork, so they know how it feels to answer.

Conclusion

The 22-question survey serves each research objective with plainly worded, fully labeled questions, guided by research on how people answer surveys. A randomized single-price likelihood question and four price sensitivity questions address demand and pricing, a ranking addresses benefits, and short items address spending, the free card and demographics. A nine-question intercept version keeps key wording identical, and cognitive interviews and a pilot will test both before fieldwork. Module 4 will plan the focus groups and the coding of qualitative data.

References

Krosnick, J. A. (1999). Survey research. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 537-567. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.537

Lipovetsky, S., Magnan, S., & Zanetti-Polzi, A. (2011). Pricing models in marketing research. Intelligent Information Management, 3(5), 167-174. https://doi.org/10.4236/iim.2011.35020

Malhotra, N. K. (2019). Marketing research: An applied orientation (7th ed.). Pearson.